


Afterschool Card Games

by CanadianBoat



Category: Love Live! Sunshine!!
Genre: Card Games, Friendly Banters, Gen, Shadowverse - Freeform, You-chan believes in the heart of the cards, cute girls doing duel things, duel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-22
Packaged: 2019-07-15 15:36:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,776
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16066130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanadianBoat/pseuds/CanadianBoat
Summary: Watanabe You only wanted to prepare for club practice, but she instead was dragged into a possibly-hour-long session of card game duel. The culprit? No other than resident fallen angel Tsushima Yoshiko and her cronies of little demons.





	Afterschool Card Games

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! As mentioned in the tags, this was loosely inspired by the online Collectible Card Game (CCG) Shadowverse.  
> If you're familiar with it, good! If not, You can look the game up and read the rules, or read a simplified rule (parts I only use in this work) on the link after this.
> 
> https://pastebin.com/LTJPweDY
> 
> If you want to go in blind, this work explains the mechanic in a very simplified form (even moreso than the external notes), but it should be enough to understand what the characters are doing.
> 
> That said, enjoy!

Clubrooms weren’t the type of rooms to be quiet, especially after school hours had ended. But today, from inside the Uranohoshi School Idol Club room, Watanabe You had been hearing odd chatters. Something about creature summoning and draining life. If it was Yoshiko, she’d understand. But inbetween her fallen angel antics, she could also hear Hanamaru and even Ruby chirping in the same words. Did Yoshiko finally rope them in with her second-grade delusions?

Only one way to find out.

You slowly slid the door open. There was no need to try and sneak around, since the table are directly visible from the door, but she felt the need to be subtle. As she walked in, You saw Hanamaru and Yoshiko sitting against each other, Ruby standing behind the librarian. Nothing out of the ordinary so far. She then gazed at the table their on and spotted what seemed to be piles of…

“Cards?”

Indeed, cards. The two players sitting were playing a form of card game. There were decks of cards placed on each side of the table. On the middle of the table were four cards, split equally among the two. Each was holding five cards on their hands.

“Ah, You-chan,” Ruby greeted. “Hello.”

“Here I thought you girls were doing something weird,” You sighed. “Wait, are you even allowed to play cards at school?”

“Well, um, I don’t know,” Ruby answered, “But it’s afterschool, so as long as- Ah, Hanamaru-chan, be careful!”

“Too late! My turn! Draw!” Yoshiko shouted, pulling one card from her pile. She then struck a pose not unlike a certain king of games. “I activate my spell ‘Curse of the Ghost

“Um, what does it do, zura?”

“It’s effect lets me sacrifice one creature I control and destroy one of yours,” the dark duelist explained. “I sacrifice my ‘Underworld Archer’ to destroy your ‘Veteran Vanguard’!”

“Aww, okay, I’ll take that,”  Hanamaru moved her chosen card to the other side of the table, so did Yoshiko. Both now only had one card on their side. Many other cards have piled up on the place where they moved their cards, presumably previously used. “Then your ‘Underworld Archer’ effect activates too, right, zura?”

“You’re learning fast, Zuramaru,” Yoshiko smirked. “Indeed, since it was destroyed, ‘Underworld Archer’ randomly damages one creature card on the field.”

“And since I only have one creature, it targets my ‘Nimble Bladesman’, which only has one health, so it dies too,” Hanamaru said, moving her card to the pile again. “Wait, doesn’t that mean…”

“Correct, you’re out of cards, Zuramaru” Yoshiko cackled. “But my ‘Eternal Duelist’ is still on the field, so I attack your life directly!”

“Okay, I have six life left, and your card has…” Hanamaru took a closer look the card. It depicted a skeleton warrior with glowing blue eyes. The bottom of the card had numbers that tells the player how strong it is. The card had the numbers ‘7/7’ on it.

“Ehh!? Seven attack!?” The librarian gaped in shock. “That means I lost!”

“Victory for the fallen angel, Yohane!” Another cackle. “You still have much to learn, my little demon.”

Hanamaru pouted. “The cards you have are unfair, Yoshiko-chan. Are you sure you weren’t just bullying me?”

“O-of course not! The deck I gave you was my first starter deck. It’s plenty strong on it’s own.” Yoshiko shuffled through the deck on Hanamaru’s side. “You just couldn’t draw them on time, like this ‘Hopeful Strategist’ here.”

“I guess I was just unlucky, zura.” Hanamaru then gathered her pile of cards and reformed them into one whole deck. “Thanks for letting me play, Yoshiko-chan, it was pretty fun.”

“Hmph, but of course. No one can resist the shadowy allure of ‘Dark World’.”

“Huh, so it’s called ‘Dark World’.” You mused. “I thought it was the, uh, what do you call it, Yew-Gee, something?”

“That’s a different game!” the fallen angel retorted. “But I guess it does look similar to the untrained. Do you know how to play these kind of games, You?”

“Not much. I’ve only watched an old anime about it and some ads on TV, but I’ve never played any personally.”

“Then, my little demon, it’s time for you to fall with me to the depths of ‘Dark World’!” Yoshiko handed a deck to the high-diver. “T-that is, if you want to, anyway.”

“Well, it does look fun,” You answered. She grabbed the deck from Yoshiko’s hand. “We have time until practice starts, so why not.”

Yoshiko’s eyes gleamed with glee. She urged You to sit across her and started explaining the basic rules of the game. There were a lot of things to consider, like turn order, summoning costs, card effects, etc, and You could only process so much information at one time. Ruby and Hanamaru only let out a quick, sardonic laugh. They’ve had the same experience just before.

“...And that’s about it.” Yoshiko finished her rule explanation. It took about five minutes.”Any questions?”

“A lot, actually,” You laughed. “But I understand the basics. I’ll learn the others as I play.”

“Great. It’s time to duel.”

 

* * *

 

 

Both players sat across each other, deck placed on their right hand side of table. The first-year spectators sat nearby. Hanamaru clearly cheered for You to win. As a newbie handicap, Yoshiko told You her own deck type and playstyle. Yoshiko was playing a ‘Resurrect’-type deck. It involves playing creatures and spells that lets her discard high-cost cards with strong attributes early, then reviving them with low-cost cards as means of playing them earlier. Her deck also have plenty cards with effects that triggers when they are destroyed, so You had to be careful when dealing with them on the field. Coincidentally, most of these cards have demons or undead creatures as their artwork. It must have been one part why Yoshiko played this deck.

On the other hand, You’s deck was a ‘Noble Standard’-type deck. It’s main playstyle was to flood the field with low-cost creatures then boosting their power with the card that shared the same name as the deck type. Yoshiko explained that it was her first deck she built from scratch, stating that it was one of the easiest (and cheapest) decks for new players starting at the game. It was crude, but simple. You understood that quickly.

The game started with the two of them drawing three cards first. Players can reshuffle any number of cards back to their deck and draw the same amount should they think the cards were unsatisfactory. Yoshiko was content with her draw, so she kept her hand. You reshuffled one card because she thought she had to at least reshuffle one (of course that wasn’t the case), but she redrew a better card so all was well.

The first turn went to Yoshiko. She drew one card from her deck and promptly ended her turn. You was confused at this, but she realized that she needed enough energy to summon a card with a certain cost. Since it was their first turn, Yoshiko only had one energy point. It just meant that she didn’t have cards with cost one or lower in her hand.

It was then You’s turn. It was still her first turn, but since she went second, she was allowed to draw two cards. Among the five cards in her hand, only one card fits her energy point. She played ‘Nimble Bladesman’, a card that had the image of a ninja on it. The numbers on that card read ‘1/1’ which meant it has one attack and one life. In addition, it had a text on it that read ‘Haste’.

“Yoshiko-chan, what does this mean?” You asked.

“Ah, normally a card can’t attack on the turn they are played,” She answered, “But cards with ‘Haste’ can. Another similar effect, ‘Quick’ lets them attack too, but it can’t attack the player directly.”

“Oh, so this card can attack you directly?”

“Yes.”

“Then I attack you with ‘Nimble Bladesman’ for one damage.”

“I’ll take that. Nineteen life left.” Yoshiko nodded.

You made a tiny clap. Yoshiko showed her how to take damage. She’s learning the game by playing, and that was fun. Since she couldn’t do anything else, You ended her turn.

Yoshiko’s turn started, and she drew another card from her deck. She quickly played a card, ‘Underworld Archer’, a cost-2, ‘2/2’ card and had the image of a skeleton archer. You saw this card before when Hanamaru was playing. She knew if that card was destroyed, Yoshiko can randomly select a card on the field and deal one damage to it, but she didn’t know how the random selection worked. Yoshiko pulled out her phone and opened an app. She entered the number ‘3’ and pressed a green button on the screen. The number ‘2’ came out. She explained that the numbers correspond to the cards on the field in order from right to left. Usually people use a six-sided dice to decide, but when there can only be five cards on the field it could get complicated. You understood and Yoshiko ended her turn once more.

You drew a card as per routine. She then played ‘Veteran Vanguard’, another card she saw earlier. It was a cost-2, ‘2/2’ card, depicting a knight with a large shield, with the text ‘Protector’. This time Hanamaru explained that if a card with ‘Protector’ is on the field, no other cards or the player can be attacked except cards with ‘Protector’.

“Isn’t this really strong then?”

“Not really, zura. It can be destroyed by spells.” Hanamaru said. “Like Yoshiko-chan did earlier.”

“Mhmm, and the life of that card isn’t that high either, so a stronger card can attack it and still live,” Ruby added. “Then other cards can freely attack again.”

“Woah, Ruby-chan, you sound like you know the game better than I do.” You laughed. Ruby blushed meekly. She’d been watching her two friends play, that’s all.

The play continued. You still had her ‘Nimble Bladesman’ and hadn’t attacked yet, so she did just that. Yoshiko took one damage to her life and she was down to eighteen. You then ended her turn.

It was Yoshiko’s third turn. The card she drew made her grin widely. It made You wince a bit. Yoshiko then played a card, ‘Mourning Necromancer’. It had the image of a witch that seemed like she was crying. But the thing that caught You’s eye the most was the text on the card. It was long, about a sentence long.

“Hold on, what does that card do?” You intercepted.

“You’ll see as I work through the effects.” Yoshiko cackled. “The effect ‘Entrance’ means it only activates if it’s played from the hand. I fulfilled the condition so the next part of the effect activates.”

“Okay, is it the ‘Sacrifice’ part?” You asked.

“Correct! ‘Sacrifice’ means I have to discard a creature card from my hand.” Yoshiko continued. “This says ‘Sacrifice - Draw a card’, so it means I get to discard a creature from my hand and then draw one card from my deck.”

“Wow, okay, that’s a lot of things to remember,” You scratched her head. “Is that all?”

“Yes, but it’s a strong effect for my deck type.” Yoshiko pulled out a card from her hand. “I discard ‘Eternal Duelist’ from my hand and I draw a card from my deck.”

You blinked. “Can I see that card for a bit?”

Yoshiko nodded. She handed it across the table. The card was the one that defeated Hanamaru earlier. A strong skeleton warrior with the numbers ‘7/7’ on it. But You was interested on the text on the card. It read ‘Dying Wish - Summon an Eternal Duelist. Disable the effects of that card when summoned this way.’

“...What the heck?”

“Ah, ‘Dying Wish’ means it activates when the card was destroyed, like the ‘Underworld Archer’.” Yoshiko said.

“I know that, but this card,” You paused. “Isn’t this card, you know, kind of, immortal?”

“Oh, yeah, it can revive itself once.”

“That’s cheating!” You shouted. “Ah, sorry. But I mean, so far my cards doesn’t even come close to seven attack. Then this thing has two lives!”

“U-um, You-chan, you have a card that can deal with ‘Eternal Duelist’,” Ruby said. “It’s in your hand, even.”

Three pairs of eyes glared at the pig-tailed girl. She let out a tiny squeal. “S-sorry! I didn’t mean to expose your hand!”

“That’s okay,” You sighed in relief. “At least I know how to beat it. Which one is it?”

“That can wait on your turn, You.” Yoshiko grunted. “I haven’t ended mine yet.”

“Ah, sorry about that. Go on.”

You returned the card to Yoshiko’s discard pile, and the play resumed. Yoshiko now had two cards on her field. She attacked ‘Veteran Vanguard’ with her ‘Underworld Archer’. It should be mentioned that when a card is attacked, it could deal return damage to the attacker. Since both cards are ‘2/2’, both cards were destroyed. The effect of ‘Underworld Archer’ activated, and You’s ‘Nimble Bladesman’ was also destroyed. This play closely mimicked the last turn when Yoshiko and Hanamaru played earlier.

You’s turn started and she asked Ruby about the card she mentioned earlier. Ruby, after approval from Yoshiko, carefully pointed to a card at the edge of You’s hand, ‘Magic Gunsmith’. It was a cost-3, ‘2/1’ card that had an ‘Entrance’ effect. It read ‘Put a Holy Grenade to your hand.”

“I don’t think I have a card like that in my deck.”

“Oh, it’s a token card,” Ruby answered. “You can look it up on the rulebook or the internet.”

“Have you been playing this game, Ruby-chan?” You asked. She did seem more knowledgeable than the others.

“M-maybe,” Ruby offhanded her answer. “A-anyway, when you play this card, you can put the card written on its effect to your hand. Sometimes people have the specific card to play, but Yoshiko-chan doesn’t have it, so you can use this as a replacement.”

Ruby then picked up a card from a spare pile on the table. The card didn’t have any images on it, just a big text that said ‘TOKEN CARD’ on the frame where the card art should be. The text on it also said ‘Use this card as a replacement for cards that are generated by other cards. To look for information on token cards, visit the official website or read the rulebook.’

“This has gotten a lot more complex than I thought.”

“It takes time to get used to, zura.” Hanamaru chirped. “What’s the card that it summons again?”

“Holy Grenade,” Yoshiko said. “A cost-5 spell. Banish an enemy creature.”

“You can remember the card, Yoshiko-chan? What does banish mean?”

“Well, it is a card that I played with a lot, so I already know it by heart.” She answered. “Banish means removing a card from play without destroying it.”

“Oh, so that, uh, dying wish thing doesn’t activate?” You guessed.

“Indeed.” Yoshiko cackled. “So you have a way to counter my ‘Eternal Duelist’, but we shall see later.”

You nodded and she resumed her turn. As suggested, she played ‘Magic Gunsmith’ and put a token card on her hand. She wrote a note on paper to remind her that the token card was a ‘Holy Grenade’. She couldn’t do anything else, so, end turn.

Fourth turn. Yoshiko drew her card. She then played two ‘Deathly Peacock’. It was a cost-2, ‘1/2‘ card with the image of an ominous-looking, well, peacock. It had ‘Dying Wish - Draw a card’. You was relieved the cards were simple this time. Yoshiko then attacked ‘Magic Gunsmith’ with her ‘Mourning Necromancer’. Both cards were destroyed and Yoshiko ended her turn.

You was next and now she had five cards again. On her corner of her hand, she had one card. Just by looking at the name, she knew she had to play it.

You placed the card on her field. “I play ‘Noble Standard’”.

The spectators clapped. Hanamaru couldn’t play this card earlier, so she was excited to see it in action. ‘Noble Standard’ is the namesake of the deck You was playing. It’s a cost-4 relic card, which means it was not a creature. It’s a permanent card on the field, unless destroyed, and had a passive effect to the cards on the field. That card in particular had the ability to boost allied creatures’ attack by one point whenever they come into play. Fittingly, the card depicts a knight with a flag, seemingly rallying his comrades in the background.

“Hmph. So the accursed banner has arrived.” Yoshiko grinned. “Come, You, fight me with all your might!”

“Well, I don’t have any cards on the field, though,” You snorted. “And I don’t have energy left. Your turn, Yoshiko-chan.”

“So it is. My turn, draw!” Yoshiko exclaimed. “I play ‘Dark Riversteer’ and activate it’s ‘Sacrifice’ effect.”

Yoshiko played a card with the art of a boat steerer holding a scythe. It was a cost-3, ‘3/2’ card and read ‘Sacrifice - Put a cost-6 or higher creature card into your hand. Everytime Sacrifice is activated, restore one life’. A mouthful, You thought. But she understood it by this time. Yoshiko discarded a creature card from her hand - another ‘Eternal Duelist’ - and scoured her deck. She took a card and reshuffled the rest. The rules didn’t say anything about showing what card she took, so You would have to wait until Yoshiko played it. In addition, since the effect of ‘Dark Riversteer’ was a ‘Sacrifice’ Yoshiko restored one life, bringing her back up to nineteen points. She then summoned another ‘Underworld Archer’ and attacked You directly with her ‘Deathly Peacocks’, dealing a total of two damage before ending her turn.

You was down to eighteen life. She drew her card and thought for a while what card to play. She then decided to play ‘Hopeful Strategist’, another card Hanamaru couldn’t play earlier. It had a pretty complicated effect. Itself was a cost-5, ‘2/4’ card, but its ‘Entrance’ effect was to summon one ‘Shield Warrior’ and one ‘Sword Warrior’. Those cards read ‘Protector. 1/1’ and ‘1/2’, respectively. You could see why Yoshiko said this was a strong card. It summoned extra cards alongside itself. Moreover, since she had ‘Noble Standard’ active, it boosted her army, bringing them up to ‘3/4’, ‘2/2’, and ‘2/1’. One of them was even a ‘Protector’ card. How powerful.

Of course, since Yoshiko didn’t really have the cards, You used two token cards as replacements.

“Ooh, now I see why this game is fun.” You giggled.

“I’m glad you understand,” Yoshiko nodded. “But the true play starts here! My turn!”

It’s the sixth turn, and Yoshiko stood up excitedly as she played her card. She played ‘Eternity Hunter’, a cost-6, ‘4/5’ creature. The card had similar effect to ‘Magic Gunsmith’ from earlier, as it had an ‘Entrance’ to put a card into the player’s hand. Although when one looks into it, it was a much, much stronger card.

“I put a ‘Resurrecting Potion’ into my hand.” Yoshiko stated while she was doing the motion. She took a token card to her hand. “This card is a cost-5 spell, and it allows me to revive any creature from my discard pile.”

“Oh, that sounds cool,” You muttered, “Wait…”

Yoshiko cackled. “I know what you’re thinking, because I’m thinking the same thing. But for now, I attack your ‘Shield Warrior’ with my ‘Deathly Peacock’.

“Ah, okay,” You moved the cards. “It’s, uh, ‘2/1’ against ‘1/2’, so both are destroyed.”

Yoshiko moved her own cards. “Yes, then it’s ‘Dying Wish’ activates and I draw one card. Then I attack your ‘Sword Warrior’ with the other ‘Deathly Peacock’.”

“Um, but it has two life points, Yoshiko-chan.” You interjected. “Your peacock only has one attack.”

“I know, I just want to draw a card.”

“If you say so.” You shrugged. “My ‘Sword Warrior’ is down to one life.”

Yoshiko nodded in agreement and moved her card to the discard pile. She then drew another card, bringing her hand up to seven cards. She then attacked You directly with her ‘Dark Riversteer’ and ‘Underworld Archer’ for a total of five damage. You was down to thirteen life.

“Hey!, I didn’t know you can attack directly when I have creatures on my field!” You protested.

“This isn’t the other card game, I thought I explained that already.” Yoshiko shrugged.

“Aw, I guess you did. My bad.” You sulked. “I wish this game has trap cards or something.

“It does,actually,” Ruby said. “But You-chan, your deck just doesn’t have any.”

“Nor mine.” Yoshiko added. “Trap cards are hard to play here.”

You paused for a bit. Part dumbfounded that there are trap cards in this card game, part very surprised Ruby of all people knew that fact. But it was her turn now, so she put her mind aside.

She drew a card as per usual and started thinking on how to deal with her situation. At the time, Yoshiko had three creatures on her field, one of them quite powerful. You’s ‘Hopeful Strategist’ was still alive, as with her ‘Sword Warrior’. However, these two cards aren’t enough to clear the field from Yoshiko’s creature. If she left them alone, she’d receive nine damage to her face on the next turn.

Then she looked at her newly drawn card. It was the answer.

“Um, first I attack directly’ with ‘Sword Warrior’.“ You stated.

“I’ll take it. I’m down to seventeen life points.”

“Okay, um, one, two...” You counted. “Then, I play ‘Tornado Sweep’ from my hand.”

Yoshiko’s eyes widened. “No way! You drew that card!?”

You nodded. “This is a cool card, Yoshiko-chan. I pick ‘Hopeful Strategist’ as my damage source”

“What’s a ‘Tornado Sweep’, Ruby-chan?” Hanamaru asked. This was a new card to her, as she didn’t draw it when she played earlier, nor Yoshiko told her about it.

“Ah, well, it’s a cost-5 spell,” Ruby explained. “When you use it, you pick an allied creature. Then, you deal damage to all other creatures on the field. The damage is as much attack points as the creature you choose.”

“Woah, that sounds powerful, zura”

“It is, and it’s pretty rare too,” Yoshiko added. “I only have one in that deck, and she managed to draw it.”

You giggled. “Lucky me, I guess. So I deal three damage to every card except ‘Hopeful Strategist’. My ‘Sword Warrior’ is destroyed.”

“So are my ‘Underworld Archer’ and ‘Dark Riversteer’.” Yoshiko moved them to the discard pile. “But my ‘Dying Wish’ activates, you know the drill.”

“Yeah, my ‘Hopeful Strategist’ is down to three life.” You confirmed. “And your ‘Eternity Hunter’ is down to…”

“Two life points.”

“I attack it with ‘Hopeful Strategist’. Both creatures are destroyed.”

The two spectators gave a tiny applause once more. The field is now clear, except for You’s ‘Noble Standard’. Relic cards didn’t have life points in the first place, so it couldn’t take damage at all. You ended her turn with pride and she felt she was already getting better playing this.

“Hmph, beginner’s luck.” Yoshiko drew a card. “But now, fear my undead warrior! I play ‘Resurrecting Potion’ to revive my ‘Eternal Duelist’!”

Yoshiko slammed her card on the table. She took an ‘Eternal Duelist’ from the discard pile and placed it on her field. It’s original cost turned out to be ten, so seeing it come into play during the seventh turn was pretty scary. Hanamaru must have experienced this, You thought. The librarian in question nodded as if she knew what You was thinking.

“What now, my little demon? Cower before the power of my minion!” Yoshiko let out a proper, demonic laugh before ending her turn.

“Ah, then I play the ‘Holy Grenade’” You said calmly. “Your ‘Eternal Duelist’ is banished.”

Silence. Both players stared at each other for some good ten seconds. Yoshiko then chuckled and closed her eyes.

“I forgot about that card!”

“Come on, Yoshiko-chan” You laughed. “Where’s your power now?”

“D-don’t mock me!” Yoshiko pouted. “I’ll get you next turn, you’ll see!”

“Okay, okay,” You-chan was still giggling, as with the other two first-years. “I play ‘Veteran Vanguard’’ and have its attack boosted to three points. Your turn, Yoshiko-chan.”

Yoshiko let out a dejected sigh. “My turn. I play ‘Angel of the Bells’. Then I play ‘Convert Soul’, destroying ‘Angel of the Bells’ to draw two cards. Then, ‘Angel of the Bells’ effect activate, and I draw ano-”

“Whoa, whoa, Yoshiko-chan, slow down!” You said, “I can’t keep up!”

“Oh, uh, sorry. Um, let’s see…” Yoshiko muttered. “‘Angel of the Bells’ is a ‘0/4’ creature, with a ‘Dying Wish’ effect that lets me draw two cards. ‘Convert Soul’ is a spell that destroys an allied creature and lets me draw two cards.”

“Uhuh, so that means you draw…”

“Four cards.”

“That’s a lot of cards,” You nodded. “How many do you have now?”

Yoshiko arranged her freshly drawn hand. “Nine. It’s the maximum amount of cards in your hand. Draw any more and you discard them.”

Seven cards were already a big amount in a game like this. Yoshiko had the maximum amount, and You only had three in comparison. It took a lot of resources on the turn she managed to clear the field. Running out of cards in this game could possibly mean a loss, because players might not have an answer to the other player’s card.

“Now, I play ‘Dark Riversteer’ and ‘Sacrifice’ a ‘Mourning Necromancer’.” Yoshiko discarded her card and started looking into her deck. “The effect lets me search for a cost-6 card or higher creature and I restore one life.”

“Uhuh, but since it doesn’t tell me what card you took, how should I know if it’s actually the card you took?” You asked.

“Well, uh, you just,” Yoshiko’s eyes shifted. “Gotta trust me on it?”

“Oh? Are you going to cheat, Yoshiko-chan?” Hanamaru teased.

“A-am not! I’m not one to resort to cheating!”

“Yeah, Yoshiko-chan can’t cheat,” Ruby-chan added. “We’d know if she did”

“I’m not sure whether I should take that as an insult or a compliment, Ruby.”

“Alright, I trust you.” You giggled. “I mean, the last time you used that card, I bet you used it to grab the ‘Eternity Hunter’, right?”

“Yeah, I did.” Yoshiko nodded. “I’m not telling what I pull this time though. I end my turn.”

It was the eighth turn, and You, as mentioned, was running out of cards. WIth her draw, she’s up to four, but it still didn’t compare to Yoshiko’s seven figure. She only drew another ‘Nimble Bladesman’, so it didn’t help her much. But her answer actually had been sitting in her hand the whole time.

In her hand she held a cost-6 card called ‘Royal Infiltrator’. You looked at it and saw an image of a spy holding a case full of cards. It wasn’t exactly a strong card. Its statline was only ‘1/1’. However, its effects matches the art; ‘Entrance - Draw until you have X cards in your hand. X is the number of cards your opponent has’. A very powerful card to have.

You played it immediately and drew four cards, matching Yoshiko’s seven. Now she’s back to the game, though her energy was down to two. The only card she could play here was ‘Centaur Spearman’, a cost-2, ‘2/1’ card with ‘Haste’, ‘3/1’ since it could be boosted by ‘Noble Standard’. She placed it on her field and attacked directly, leaving Yoshiko with fourteen life.

Yoshiko started her ninth turn. She said that getting to turn nine was a feat in this game, since most matches end on turn seven or eight. She drew her card and promptly cackled for the umpteenth time. She drew her other win condition.

“Behold, You, my strongest card!” She placed her card on the table, slightly slamming it in the process. “I summon ‘Silver Bahamut’!”

“Whoa, it’s a dragon!” You stared at the card. “What does it do?”

“It’s a cost-9, ‘9/9’ statline card,” Yoshiko explained. “At the end of my turn, it deals three damage to all other creatures and deals one damage to the enemy player.”

“Oh, wow, it does sound strong.”

“It is strong!” Yoshiko blurted. “Since I end my turn now, all your creatures take damage and destroyed, while you’re down to twelve life points!”

“Ah, you’re right,” You moved her cards away. “My turn now. I play ‘Magic Gunsmith’ and put a ‘Holy Grenade’ to my hand. Then I use ‘Holy Grenade’ to banish your dragon.”

Yoshiko blinked. Once. Twice. Her big, silver dragon is off the field.

“No way!”

The other three girls laughed for a good minute.

“Yoshiko-chan, I think your victory against me was a fluke.” Hanamaru said, trying her best to hold her laughter.

Yoshiko could be heard slightly tearing up. “S-shut up! You was lucky, that’s all. And I already told you that deck is plenty strong.”

“Beginner’s luck, right?” You smiled. “I play a ‘Nimble Bladesman’ and attack you directly for two damage.”

“Yeah, I’m down to twelve too.” Yoshiko nodded. “It’s not over yet, you hear me?”

“Bring it on, Yoshiko-chan!”

The tenth turn had started, which meant that Yoshiko’s energy point was on the maximum amount of ten. She could practically play any card at the moment. Her priority was obviously to get rid of the two creatures You had. The eight cards on her hands had plenty of ways to do it, but simply clearing the field wasn’t enough. She needed to get an advantage.

She first played ‘Skull Bug’, a cost-2, ‘1/2’ card that had a scary ‘Dying Wish’ effect. When it’s destroyed, it also destroys one enemy creature. Yoshiko then followed it up with ‘Curse of the Ghost’, a cost-2 spell that she used on her match with Hanamaru. She targets ‘Skull Bug’ as a sacrifice and ‘Magic Gunsmith’. Both cards were destroyed, and ‘Nimble Bladesman’ was also destroyed due to the ‘Dying Wish’ from ‘Skull Bug’.

Yoshiko had six energy points left, so she did what was expected. She played ‘Eternity Hunter’ and placed a ‘Resurrect Potion’ to her hand. Her aim was obvious; summon another ‘Eternal Duelist’ the next turn, and hope You didn’t have another ‘Magic Gunsmith’. Cards were limited to three copies per deck, after all.

“I end my turn.” Yoshiko tensed up. “I have a feeling the next turn will be our last, You.”

“You sound like it’s a big deal or something, Yoshiko-chan,” You moved to draw her card. “Ah, but we are close to practice time.”

At the moment, You held five cards. Two ‘Centaur Spearman’, and three ‘Frontline Knight’ (cost-1, ‘1/2’ card without any effects). At first, it didn’t seem You could end the game here. None of her cards were that impressive.

Then she drew a game changer.

It wouldn’t be strange to call You a ‘Top-Deck Master’ by this point, because once again, You drew the perfect card to answer Yoshiko’s board. The card she drew was ‘Despair Messenger’. A fitting name for such an ominous card. It could be said that the card was the opposite of ‘Hopeful Strategist’. It was a cost-5 ‘2/4’ card. Didn’t seem very impressive at most. But the effect it had was very powerful. First, it had ‘Haste’, so it could attack directly. Second, its ‘Entrance’ effect stated that it could return all other allied creature card to the player’s hand, and gained a bonus in attack points. That bonus amounted to the number of cards returned that way.

You started her mental calculations. She had ten energy points. ‘Centaur Spearman’ costed two points each. Four energy. Four damage to Yoshiko directly. Six energy points left. One ‘Frontline Knight’. Five energy points. ‘Despair Messenger’. Originally ‘2/4’. Returned three cards to hand. Gained three attack bonus. Five damage to Yoshiko.

Total of nine damage. It wasn’t enough.

Or was it?

“Ah, I forgot about ‘Noble Standard’.”

“Huh?”

“I play two ‘Centaur Vanguard’. It’s boosted by ‘Noble Standard’, so it has three attack each.” You paused. “I also play a ‘Frontline Knight’, boosted by ‘Noble Standard’ to two attack.”

You recounted her calculations. “Umm, I attack directly with the ‘Centaur Vanguard’, once each.”

“I’ll take that, six damage.” Yoshiko winced. “Ouch, down to six.”

“Then I play ‘Despair Messenger’. I return three creature cards to my hand, so it gained three attack.” You arranged her hand, not that she needed to. “Then its boosted by ‘Noble Standard’ up to six attack points.”

Yoshiko stared at her board. She froze for a second as a miracle play just happened right in front of her eyes.

“‘Despair Messenger’ has ‘Haste’, so I attack you directly. Six damage.”

“S-six damage.” Yoshiko stuttered. “I’m down to…”

“Zero.”

“Good game.” Yoshiko buried her face under her palms. “I lost!”

You slumped against her chair and let out a deep, relieved sigh. It was over. She won the match. It might have only been thirty minutes, but the whole play felt like hours, if not ages. Ruby and Hanamaru approached her instantly, giving You praise and looks of awe.

“Amazing, You-chan!” Hanamaru said. “You beat Yoshiko-chan!”

“Mhmm! On your first try, too!” Ruby added.

“Aw, gee, thanks,” You laughed, trying not to blush. “Lucky draws, I suppose.”

“Simply luck wouldn’t have been enough to defeat a fallen angel, You,” Yoshiko chirped in. “You have the eyes, no, dare I say, the _heart_ of a duelist of the ‘Dark World’.

“That’s, uh, flattering, I guess.”

“I-I’m saying that you’re good at this game, okay?” Yoshiko muttered. “That ‘Tornado Sweep’ play was really good.”

“Yeah? I think that dragon thing you summoned was better.” You smirked. “I would have lost if I didn’t have a spare ‘Magic Gunsmith’ on my hand.

The two looked at each other. Then laughed. You might have only played this once, but even she knew this was a game to deepen bonds of friendship. She could feel the tension, the heat that radiated throughout the match.

“Alright, time to clean up and get ready for practice.” You clapped her hands. “Whew, that was fun.”

“Ah, you do understand.” Yoshiko nodded. “You think you’d want to play another round later?”

“Absolutely!” You proclaimed. “Oh, but you know what?”

“What?”

You turned around and pointed to the red-haired girl that had been giving her advice throughout the game.

“I want to try going against Ruby-chan next.”

  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Whew, that was a long one. This is a trial to see if story telling card games is a feasible action.
> 
> If you are interested on the cards I used for reference, I have put up a list down below.
> 
> https://pastebin.com/NbmRzYuj
> 
> As always, thank you for reading! Do tell if you enjoy these kind of works. If the interest are there, I might make more with different characters (and different decks!)


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